Daily Ada: 26 November 12

We discovered a bean dip Ada really likes. She basically just licks it off anything it is put on.

Daily Ada: 25 November 12

Monthly Mark: Movember!

If you haven't heard of Movember, but have been wondering why it seems like every man around you is growing weird facial hair, you now have a reason to find out more. Mark is participating in the international charity drive phenomenon (it started in Australia), which is Movember, where men grow moustaches to raise awareness of men's health in general and of prostate cancer specifically.

You can find out more at the Movember Wikipedia page, or the official "Movember World Wide" site.

Mark is doing it alongside other members of his team at work. Mark is staying above the fray of competitiveness (which seems to always happen with these things) by not publicizing it too much, or raising any money. But if you want to give, you can, via Mark's "mobro" site.

And here is the progression. The thing is that you have to start clean shaven on November 1st.

Ada seems OK with it. She doesn't like when he wears hats or glasses, but seems to be OK with facial hair.

First Thanksgiving.

We had Ada's first Thanksgiving today! Since I don't work on Thursdays, and Mark was working from home, we were able to have a pretty close approximation of Thanksgiving at Ada's normal dinner time. Ada had a fever all day, but was a trooper and still seemed to enjoy herself, though she didn't eat as much as she normally might have done.

And then of course we introduced her to the obligatory lying on the couch afterwards!

Daily Ada: 17 November 12

This is Ada's Diwali latern, which she decorated at nursery. It was also her opportunity to check out the regular camera, while I took pictures on my phone.

Daily Ada: 16 November 12

Sometimes, it takes a rice cake to get things done.

Daily Ada: 15 November 12

We now have a system for Skype, which involves setting the iPad on a cookbook stand on the dining table and a small table in front of that for Ada to hold onto.
So when things go into place, Ada knows what's coming. But sometimes I set things up before Mimi and Pa are ready, and Ada stands there, waiting patiently for them to "arrive."

Happy birthday, Mommy!

Yes, Jenny, I did receive a birthday cookie this year!

Ada at 10 months.

Ada turned ten months on Sunday!

We went  to  Clevedon and walked along the sea front and then had lunch at the pub we like there. We don't eat out with Ada very much (we don't eat out at all very much!), but she's pretty patient and does a good job when we do. Since she primarily eats finger foods now, she can feed herself while we eat, too.

Ada now weighs 9.7kg/21 lbs 6 oz. That puts her around the 85th percentile, which is where she's been for the last couple of months.

Nowadays, when changing her diaper, if you say "stretch!" she'll reach her hands up and stretch her legs out. Quite often she'll even stop whatever she's doing (like trying to roll away or grab something) to lift her hands up. That's how we got her to stop rolling to take the monthly Bagpuss photo above. It can be incredibly helpful if she's not in the mood for a diaper change and trying to roll away and you need just a little bit more time!

She now helps get herself dressed. If putting on a jacket, she'll hold one arm out then the other. Same thing for shirts in the morning, her coverall bib at meal time or pjs at bedtime. She is also starting to point her toe when it's time to put socks on. She still doesn't wear shoes often enough to help us with that, but I'm sure she'll get there. She seems interested in clothes - whenever there's laundry around, or any kind of fabric, she'll either put it over her head or drape it over her arm and wiggle her fingers like she does when her arm comes out of the sleeve. She does like putting her hand through things generally, like her plastic rings, or the bars of the stair gate.

If something isn't an article of clothing, then it's a telephone. She has now got into the habit of putting everything to her ear (or near it) - plastic rings, toys, her spoon, and even this morning she held up her weetabix cereal "biscuit" as if it was a phone. That happened to be covered in milk and yogurt, so it was a bit of a mess. She does also hold our actual phones to her ear. Unless someone is talking on it, in which case she kind of holds it out so she can look at it, I think to figure out what's going on and why sound is coming from it.

She's very good at taking things out of containers, drawers, bins, etc. Occasionally she'll put things back in, but that's not quite exciting enough yet. She has also started vaguely putting the shapes into her shape sorter, and she occasionally gets it right, but I think it's still random rather than planned. 

She claps and waves at the time. I keep forgetting to play pat-a-cake with her, or blow kisses. Not that those are particularly useful skills for the future, but I guess it's worth knowing how to do.

She also is starting to demonstrate that she understands instructions. The other week she was holding something (a sock, I think), and I said, "can you give that to Daddy?" not really expecting her to do anything. But then she crawled over to where Mark was sitting and dutifully handed it to him. I was amazed. I know that's probably the first and last time she ever listens to me and does what I ask.

She's standing all the time, but still not quite on her own, without holding on. She did once, briefly, in front of me day before yesterday. She was pulling clothes out of a drawer (a favorite pastime at the moment) and got so excited about a cardigan that she held onto it with both hands, forgetting that she "needed" to hold on. She kind of stood there for a moment, then seemed to realize what was happening and then sat down. 

Thus, still no walking, though she has started taking a few steps when holding on to her push walker thing or scooting a plastic bin along the ground. I'm not worried or hoping for her to walk, as she can get into enough trouble crawling around already!

Daily Ada: 10 November 12

(10/11/12, over here! Not that the pictures below have anything to do with that...)

Daily Ada: 9 November 12

Daily Ada: 2 November 12